News

Bargain Barn offers 'open-box' returns

David Portugal displays a toy helicopter at the Mountain Home Bargain Barn

By Bill Moss, Published: November 6, 2015

MOUNTAIN HOME — Although the Mountain Home Bargain Barn sells stuff for less, a shopper would not mistake it for a thrift shop.

The merchandise is new and priced at half what it cost when it left an Amazon warehouse on the way to its first buyer. For whatever reason, the buyer didn’t want it — didn’t like the color, changed his or her mind, got it as a gift and already had one — and sent it back to the big online retailer.
A specialist in so-called “open box returns,” David Portugal saw an opportunity to resell thousands of items Amazon was willing to discard for a low price. That was how he came up with the Bargain Barn, which opened last week on Asheville Highway at Brookside Camp Road.
“It’s not defective but it might have been opened,” Portugal says as he guided a visitor through the aisles heavily stocked with merchandise. There are pots and pans and other kitchen supplies, camping gear, electronics, toys and knickknacks. Portugal points to an $80 Tempurpedic dog bed.
“This has been more popular than I thought it would be,” he says of the pet supply section.
Anything that boomeranged from an Amazon sale could be on the shelves. Portugal orders a truckload, sends a certified check for $30,000 and waits to see what the big rig brings.
“Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t” know in advance what’s on board, he says. “Sometimes we know what’s coming. Other times you open it up and go, ‘Wow.’”
Portugal is fairly sure that the “wow factor” for shoppers will be the low prices for new products, generally less than half the original Amazon price. “We do open every single box to see if the product is OK.” If it’s not, it goes on the shelf marked “Oops” with a tag that describes what’s wrong. A part could be missing. Maybe there’s a scratch or a dent.
In a small workspace in back, Greg Podlesny is busy fixing a cooler. If he can’t fix it, it doesn’t go on the shelves. The Bargain Barn is a lean operation labor-wise. Portugal and his wife, Elaina, run it. A retired homebuilder, Podlesny repairs things. His wife, Danielle, handles social media marketing. Portugal forecasts a chain of Bargain Barns.
“The goal is to have five or six of these in a 50-mile radius,” he says. “Ultimately, the goal would be to provide someone with an opportunity to move up to a management position. We just need one manager and maybe one assistant. Ideally, if we can get everything running right, by March we’ll open a second one.” His expansion territory, he figures, would be Asheville and Greenville, S.C.
The Mountain Home Bargain Barn is at 3280 Asheville Highway. Hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.